STUPAK: China 'can forget about an apology'

April 11, 2001|By JEFFREY HOGAN

The 1st District Democrat minced no words about defining his contempt for the Chinese government who is holding a 24-member Navy crew and its EP-3 plane after a mid-air collision on April 1 between a surveillance plane and at least one Chinese F-8 fighter jets.

"They can forget about an apology, because we did nothing wrong. In fact, if anything, I feel the Chinese government is the party who needs to be apologizing following this situation. It was their jet that rammed into our plane, and they've been holding our crew members for a second week, so I feel we have nothing to apologize about," Stupak said from a cell phone as he traveled to Sault Ste. Marie Tuesday morning.

"It's true we have regrets about the unfortunate incident, and the apparent loss of the Chinese pilot, but I think the Chinese government is sadly mistaken if they think we're going to say we're sorry for doing something we contend we didn't do. It's just not going to happen."

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A U.S. delegation met with the crew for the second day in a row Tuesday and continues to report the 21 men and three women are in "good spirits," while behind the scenes, Beijing and Washington high-level negotiations continue. Neither side appeared ready to make any concessions, with Chinese officials firmly repeating their statement they did not accept U.S. expressions of "regret" for the loss the Chinese fighter pilot, Wang Wei. Instead, a Chinese government spokesman told reporters "the U.S. must take responsibility, and it must apologize."

The United States has pointedly refused to apologize for the collision, saying the crew of the EP-3 did nothing wrong. But U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell said Monday that the United States was "sorry" for the loss of life, and President George W. Bush sent a letter of regret to Wang's wife.

U.S. diplomats are seeking a way to express sympathy to the satisfaction of China without an outright apology. The United States has also proposed having a commission determine the cause of the crash.

The Chinese responded that such regrets are a step in the right direction but did not go far enough.

"I think the president and the administration have been handling this situation quite well, and I hope we don't back down because it would be an admittance of wrong-doing and that's not the case," said Stupak, who has taken a hardline with China in his votes on bills and resolutions on the House floor regarding relations with China.

Stupak does not favor granting China its much sought-after "Most Favored Nation" trade status with the United States, and has voted against it already. This ongoing incident increases the likelihood of similar action again in June when the trade issue comes back up for a vote in Congress. "Even at a time when they're applying for this trade status with us, and when they know our concerns about their long history of human rights violations and trade restriction, things have gotten worse, not better, so as far as I'm concerned they're only making matters worse for a lot of us in Congress who are tired of their broken promises," said Stupak.

Meanwhile, a senior Pentagon official told CNN that the collision between the Chinese F-8 and the U.S. Navy EP-3 came on the Chinese pilot's third pass of the Navy plane - and that the Chinese pilot had approached at a 45-degree angle twice before, passing as near as three to five feet from the American plane.

The Chinese jet clipped the Navy plane's left propeller with its tail, knocking the EP-3 off autopilot and sending it into a 5,000 to 8,000-foot plunge before the pilot could level his craft, the official told CNN.

The Chinese plane ditched into the South China Sea and the U.S. plane limped 70 miles to a nearby Chinese air force base on Hainan Island's south coast, where it landed and the crew was taken to the provincial capital, Haikou, in the island's north.

U.S. officials said the accident severely damaged the surveillance plane, knocking off its nose cone and severely limiting the plane's maneuverability either up and down and left and right.

Stupak warned the U.S.-China standoff doesn't warrant the description "crisis," though cautioned that if the "hostages" are not returned by the time Congress reconvenes on April 23 the likelihood is strong that patience will have worn thin and many resolutions and debates about China relations with the U.S. will dominate congressional activity.

"The ball is in their court, so they better get over it, because they're not going to get an apology."